In recent seasons, the club has not fielded a team in competitive senior rugby.

History

FV 1897 Linden was formed on 2 September 1897 as a football club. In March 1898, the club then switched codes and adopted rugby as its sport instead but retained its name Fussball Verein.[2]

FV made its first trip to a German championship final in 1932, defeating RG Heidelberg 6-5. It lost the 1934 final to fellow Hanover club VfR Döhren before winning its second title, again beating RG Heidelberg, in 1937.[1]

It took the club 38 years to appear in another final, when, in 1978, TSV Handschuhsheim was beaten 24-16 and FV's fourth and so far last championship was won. It made one more finals appearance, in 1980, but this time RG Heidelberg triumphed 16-10.[1] In between those two finals, it appeared in the 1979 German rugby union cup final, where it lost to DSV 78 Hannover.[3]

The club has since disappeared from the Rugby-Bundesliga and not fielded a side in competitive senior rugby, but continues to be listed as a member of the Lower Saxony Rugby Federation.[4]